Join us at The Spring Street Gallery on Friday, September 15 from 5 to 8:15 p.m. to celebrate Block Island Pride with Austin Morin’s Art Happening. Prepare to immerse yourself in a fusion of art, creativity, and celebration. Morin invites all people to come fully dressed in rainbows.
Morin affectionately calls the island his “ancestral salmon stream,” referencing the island’s allure for those who return, akin to salmon coming back to spawn. He found himself stranded on Block Island in 2020 when Japan closed its borders due to global covid restrictions. Like many others seeking refuge here, the island community warmly embraced him. In the fall, he began working at Persephone’s Kitchen, where he conceived the idea for Block Island Pride with generous support from Persephone Brown and her staff. In 2021, while working for The Nature Conservancy on Block Island as a field biologist, Austin organized Block Island’s first pride event and initiated the Nature Conservancy’s Queerness in Nature Program to educate the community on queer ecology.